Blog describes Weberman's ‘Ick factor’ starts as friendship

He promised to drive her around in a limo, to take her on trips and let her move in with him.

He wanted to know what she wanted to do with a boy — and when she innocently replied that she wanted to hold hands, he responded, "That's it?"

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In a simple but harrowing account, a young woman who claimed she was one of Nechemya Weberman's former clients recounted her sessions with the corrupt counselor on a blog called "A child's voice."

"He painted rosy pictures of the fabulous things we will do together," she wrote. "He was the first adult that was ever nice to me."

Sex abuse experts said her account shows how the once-respected religious leader was really a child predator in disguise.

"One way of grooming is to send up a little signal and see how far it goes. Like, 'Can I take you home?' It all starts out friendly," said psychologist Richard Gartner.

Weberman's questioning of what she wanted to do with a boy was an "ick factor," said Gartner. "It's a red flag. He is testing the waters."

The young woman also wrote how Weberman became increasingly enticing: "He had definite opinions about my parents. . . . He wanted me to come live with him.

"He showed me a lot of pictures on his computer.

'You see this girl? She left home and tried to kill herself. I was called to the psychiatric ward to rescue her. Here, I took her on a trip. I can take you on trips too.' "

Orthodox Jewish therapist Joanne Krauss said Weberman's promises show he wanted to "appear larger than life and become her savior."

When she threatened to run away with Weberman, "my parents decided that enough is enough, and informed me that the following session would be my last," she wrote. "When I told him, he was furious. . . . I continued calling him behind my parents' back."

Krauss said abusers "work to isolate the person so she only believes in him."